More than half think the process is too slow. A third find it impossible to track the status of their loan application, an equal percentage say it is too difficult to talk with their lender, and a quarter don't believe the advice they receive.

All this tells Tom Mataconis, vice president of consulting for the firm based in Charlotte, N.C., that banks must do a better job to win market share. But it doesn't tell borrowers how they can determine which lenders offer the best service.

A starting point is to ask your real estate agent. Agents know which lenders keep their promises and close quickly without incident. After all, their livelihoods depend on it.

Also quiz friends, co-workers and relatives about their experiences.

Beyond that, prospective borrowers should look for several attributes that will help them find a responsive company or accessible loan officer.

Look for a consistent point of contact. Federal regulators have already settled on this as a requirement for loan servicers — the companies that collect payments, disburse funds to cover property taxes and homeowners insurance and otherwise administer loans — so why not one for borrowers?

"Many lenders have discovered that consumers appreciate a single contact, someone they can reach out to for help or support at any time," says Andy Crisenbery of the mortgage technology company ELynx.

At the same time, you may not want to be bothered during certain periods of the day. If that's the case, make certain your feelings are known, suggests David Lo, director of financial services at J.D. Power & Associates, the market research firm that judges customer satisfaction in various industries. If you want to be reached only by email or only by phone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., tell the lender.

Crisenbery also says you'll have a better experience if the lender has a way to get the necessary loan papers to you as quickly as possible. If you are old-fashioned, that might be by fax or overnight delivery. But if you are more current, it could be via the Internet.

Many institutions are putting all the documents the borrower needs to review directly into an online portal, Crisenbery says.

His company offers a product called EDelivery, which delivers documents by email "almost instantaneously" and which requires several layers of authentication, making it more secure than regular email.

At a recent Mortgage Bankers Assn. conference in Chicago, an ELynx competitor called LenderMobile launched an app for iPads (and, soon, for Android devices) that enables customers to fill in the standard 1003 application form and otherwise check on the status of their loans, all from their mobile device.

The lender also can set up the app to notify customers when rates hit a desired target or change enough to meaningfully affect monthly cost, either up or down.

The app "puts the entire process in the borrower's hands," Vice President Lovina Worick says. "You can even take a picture of a required document and send it straight to the loan file."

At the same show, Kofax debuted software that enables lenders to not only snap photos of W-2s and other support documents with their smart devices but also to extract data from the photos and use it to populate loan applications, all from the kitchen table.

You'll also want to deal with a company that provides up-to-date status information. There's nothing worse than chasing down an unresponsive loan officer to make sure this document or that report has been received, or to find out whether underwriting has looked at the application.

"One complaint borrowers have with the industry relates to the lack of timely status updates," Crisenbery says. "By providing real-time updates, borrowers will know exactly what's happening with their loans."

Beyond technology, Lo at J.D. Power suggests picking a lender that promises to provide the closing documents before closing. That way, you'll have plenty of time to find any discrepancies between the initial quote and what's now on the closing sheet, and to have the loan officer explain the differences to your satisfaction.

Speaking of accurate closing costs, LendingTree, the online mortgage search engine, recently asked the 300 companies on its network what questions borrowers should be asking. The top answer: What are the total costs involved in the loan?

In that regard, shopping website MortgageMarvel.com guarantees that the charges quoted by one of its lenders will be within $50 of actual charges. If they're not, it will pay borrowers up to $2,500.

"We believe it's important for consumers to understand and know these costs as early as they can in the mortgage application process," MortgageMarvel Chief Executive Rick Allen says. "We've worked hard to make sure the closing fees they see on our site are accurate, and we're willing to stand behind them."